"Reason why the Roman Empire fell - Unemployment of the Working Classes (The Plebs)
Cheap slave labor in turn resulted in the unemployment of the the people of Rome who became dependent on hand-outs from the state. The Romans attempted a policy of unrestricted trade but this led to working class Romans being unable to compete with foreign trade. The government were therefore forced to subsidize the working class Romans to make up the differences in prices. This resulted in thousands of Romans choosing just to live on the subsides sacrificing their standard of living with an idle life of ease. The massive divide between the rich and the poor increased still further."
Reason why the Roman Empire fell - Slave Labor
"The number of slaves increased dramatically during the first two centuries of the Roman Empire. The Roman's dependency on slave labor led not only to the decline in morals, values and ethics but also to the stagnation of any new technology to produce goods more efficiently. Romans could rely on slave power for all their needs, and this reliance inhibited technological change and growth. The terrible treatment of slaves led to rebellion and several Servile (Slave) Wars, the most famous being the revolt led by Spartacus. In the later centuries of the Empire and the advent of Christianity the attitudes towards slaves changed. With manumission (the act of freeing a slave) the number of slaves declined together with the manpower that Rome depended upon."
Facts:
Slaves were cheap to employ.
Roman citizens weren't willing to work hard if they could just get rations of what they needed.
There were plenty of slaves because of the large amount of debt {if you did not pay a loan back in 30 days you could be sold into slavery}.
Slaves that worked on farms gave the most to the economy {with all the things the farm produced such as olive oil, wine and grain it helped with the most important part of Rome's struggle; the economy}.
Some of the more wealthy slaves worked in business where they practically half owned the shop or place {they often received sums of money for working very hard}. They did most or all of the work {taxes, selling and buying, etc.}
There were no new ways to do things being invented, since the slaves only did their job the way they were taught to. This meant nothing was being invented to help or improve the crumbling empire.
Most slaves were taken from a conquered civilization. The need for slaves was very high, which forced Rome to conquer more land and people. This made for more food and supplies {welfare} to be made.
Slaves were needed all the time, and this caused many people from conquered places that used to have some freedom to now have none. This also caused a need for more space in Rome for the slaves, which was a problem because Rome was so tight on space anyway.
Affects of Outsourcing on Today's Society
"It seems that we are still outsourcing American jobs. Many more Americans are out of work, and numerous illegal immigrants are crossing the borders even getting more benefits than American citizens in many cases. This has gotten so far out of control that many people are starting to lose it, not to mention Congress recently received a pay raise and the 2nd Amendment is in jeopardy." -Chris Chambless
Most overseas jobs in the US are based upon energy, of mining energy {off-sea drilling}.
The outsourcing going on overseas is helping save money without causing inflation, but is taking jobs away from unemployed Americans.
Although banning outsourcing would stop the raising unemployment rate, it would cause prices to rocket. A normal $2 gallon milk jug would cost $5.
There are many Chinese and Indian outsources but Mexico is also a heavy contributor to the alien labour. This takes away jobs from tax-paying Americans who don't have jobs.
Outsourcing has caused an uproar in Congress and there is supposedly a new law that is being made to "control" the number of companies that are using foreign workers.
Outsourcing is a very common thing throughout many companies {you know how practically everything says "Made in China?}.
There has been 2, 753,621 jobs lost from outsourcing.
"America’s dependence on foreign oil is a problem that can result in less jobs. Not exactly the same situation we’ve been talking about- no one is taking the jobs per say, but jobs that could be done in the United States are done in other parts of the world. This is a problem that has been present in the US for a while, but since the big fracking bang, foreign oil doesn't seem as big of a problem. Still, a way this problem could be fixed is to create more jobs in the oil industry in America by showing the big American oil companies that there is a lot of oil they can dig from, and encourage people to buy the American oil instead of oil from Iraq or Iran." -Sarah Crable, Team 7-5
CONTACT
Mr. Ahiakpor,
Hello! My name is Grace and I am a student at Nagel Middle School. My class is working on a project in Social Studies about the fall of the Roman Empire. My topic is Slave Outsourcing. I heard that you specialized in economic development/foreign aid and the economy in general. I have been researching and have some questions. I was wondering if you could answer some for me?
1. How does outsourcing affect the US economy today?
2. Is there currently a policy for outsourcing? How heavily is it put into use?
3. Are we {the US} heavily dependent on foreign workers and overseas jobs?
Thank you very much. I hope you have a great day.
Sincerely, Grace
Reply
Dear Grace,
I teach topics in international economic development, but I have not done any specific research on outsourcing. You will have to rely on your general understanding of the phenomenon known as "outsourcing" in order to answer the specific questions you have.
Outsourcing is simply the phenomenon by which a firm relies on some external producers to make some components of its products or to preform some services related to its business activity. The principal motivation for such a strategy would be to reduce the unit cost of producing a firm's product and thereby increase its profits or sustain the firm's survival in a competitive marketplace. Thus, a U.S. firm might send to Honduras (or China) its cut pieces of cloth to be stitched together by workers there to make shirts or pants that it then sells in the U.S. It must be that the cost of hiring workers in the U.S. to do the stitching significantly exceeds that of hiring workers in Honduras (or China).
The effect of such a move by a firm would be (a) fewer jobs for stitchers in the U.S., (b) more jobs for those who handle imported shirts and pants from Honduras (or China), (c) retained jobs for workers in other aspects of the firm, and (d) cheaper prices of shirts and pants for U.S. consumers.
In the case of mainly services, a firm may hire foreign workers to take calls and respond to American inquiries, e.g. AT&T or Comcast having people in India or the Philippines answer calls generated from the U.S. at times that most of its offices would be closed here.
I don't know of an specific government policies on outsourcing. You may look that up on Google.
I don't think the U.S. is "heavily" dependent on foreign workers and overseas jobs. The U.S. economy is the largest in the world in terms of the value of goods and services produced. I don't know the sense in which one would say that it is heavily reliant on foreign workers to produce any particular good or service. In terms of the share of goods and services the U.S. imports for use here, the ratio is just about 16%, while the share of its output sold to foreigners is just about 112%.
BTW, I couldn't tell how your questions relate to "Slave Outsourcing." A slave is a human owned as property by another person. What does it mean to outsource slaves?
Good luck on your project,
James Ahiakpor
Solutions
1. To stop the large amount of slave labour taking over the unemployed, Rome could create a law stating that anyone who owns slaves must give half their jobs to citizens that have no job and pay them. This would decrease the amount of slave jobs and could create more ways of doing things. We can't give all the jobs to citizens though; this would raise prices of wheat and corn heavily and pretty much anything that is made by the workers. Prices would raise because of the money needed to pay all of the citizen workers. If only half of people doing things for the more wealthy were slaves, it would help with unemployment but it wouldn't drastically hurt the price of things and wouldn't cause inflation.
2. A better education means a variety of things someone is able to do. If Rome gave out education to everyone and anyone then anyone would know how to do at least one job; that would create and give more jobs because citizens could do the job better than the slaves could. This would give jobs to the people who could teach Rome {like teachers and professors . This can also tie in with today's problem of unemployment: we have open jobs, it's just we don't have the knowledge to fill the spot in. Not everyone knows how to do things if they don't go to college and learn how to. I mean, think about it this way; the answer to cancer is in a mind who can't afford to go to college. This answer and knowledge could save millions of lives, but that person can't earn a degree and can't be a doctor. If free education was given throughout Rome to anyone who was not a slave they could decrease the amount of unemployment and get the wheels turning again.
These solutions can connect with today's minority laws. It doesn't matter what race you are, which city you come from or how rich/poor you are; you still receive a job. This has worked in many areas, such as the US, Canada and India.It keeps people from hiring others because of their background, looks, etc.
They can also connect with the US' public school system. Anyone is legible to join public school and learn everything needed by the national standards. There are still private schools for the more wealthy and higher-mark citizens {and anyone who is willing to pay for extra knowledge} but public schools teach everything needed to continue on to college and eventually receive a job.
Steps:
1. Rome is to build a new law that states all people owning slaves must employ half of jobs to the unemployed.
2. Create an education system that allows anyone to gain knowledge.
These steps should help change the high unemployment rate, and stop the Roman Empire form collapsing.
Citations
1. A., Ian. "Slavery In Ancient Rome." Slavery In Ancient Rome. Mare Nostrum, 21 Mar. 2000. Web. 22 Jan. 2013.
2. Grant, Ryan. "The Growth and Decline of the Roman Economy." The Distributist Review RSS. American Chesterton Society, 7 Mar. 2011. Web. 22 Jan. 2013.
3. Trueman, Chris BA. "Roman Slaves." Roman Slaves. LearnHistoryUK, Jan. 2000. Web. 25 Jan. 2013.
Roman Outsourcing
Grace Calvert, Team 7-5
"Reason why the Roman Empire fell - Unemployment of the Working Classes (The Plebs)
Cheap slave labor in turn resulted in the unemployment of the the people of Rome who became dependent on hand-outs from the state. The Romans attempted a policy of unrestricted trade but this led to working class Romans being unable to compete with foreign trade. The government were therefore forced to subsidize the working class Romans to make up the differences in prices. This resulted in thousands of Romans choosing just to live on the subsides sacrificing their standard of living with an idle life of ease. The massive divide between the rich and the poor increased still further."
Reason why the Roman Empire fell - Slave Labor
"The number of slaves increased dramatically during the first two centuries of the Roman Empire. The Roman's dependency on slave labor led not only to the decline in morals, values and ethics but also to the stagnation of any new technology to produce goods more efficiently. Romans could rely on slave power for all their needs, and this reliance inhibited technological change and growth. The terrible treatment of slaves led to rebellion and several Servile (Slave) Wars, the most famous being the revolt led by Spartacus. In the later centuries of the Empire and the advent of Christianity the attitudes towards slaves changed. With manumission (the act of freeing a slave) the number of slaves declined together with the manpower that Rome depended upon."
Facts:
Slaves were cheap to employ.
Roman citizens weren't willing to work hard if they could just get rations of what they needed.
There were plenty of slaves because of the large amount of debt {if you did not pay a loan back in 30 days you could be sold into slavery}.
Slaves that worked on farms gave the most to the economy {with all the things the farm produced such as olive oil, wine and grain it helped with the most important part of Rome's struggle; the economy}.
Some of the more wealthy slaves worked in business where they practically half owned the shop or place {they often received sums of money for working very hard}. They did most or all of the work {taxes, selling and buying, etc.}
There were no new ways to do things being invented, since the slaves only did their job the way they were taught to. This meant nothing was being invented to help or improve the crumbling empire.
Most slaves were taken from a conquered civilization. The need for slaves was very high, which forced Rome to conquer more land and people. This made for more food and supplies {welfare} to be made.
Slaves were needed all the time, and this caused many people from conquered places that used to have some freedom to now have none. This also caused a need for more space in Rome for the slaves, which was a problem because Rome was so tight on space anyway.
Affects of Outsourcing on Today's Society
"It seems that we are still outsourcing American jobs. Many more Americans are out of work, and numerous illegal immigrants are crossing the borders even getting more benefits than American citizens in many cases. This has gotten so far out of control that many people are starting to lose it, not to mention Congress recently received a pay raise and the 2nd Amendment is in jeopardy."
-Chris Chambless
Most overseas jobs in the US are based upon energy, of mining energy {off-sea drilling}.
The outsourcing going on overseas is helping save money without causing inflation, but is taking jobs away from unemployed Americans.
Although banning outsourcing would stop the raising unemployment rate, it would cause prices to rocket. A normal $2 gallon milk jug would cost $5.
There are many Chinese and Indian outsources but Mexico is also a heavy contributor to the alien labour. This takes away jobs from tax-paying Americans who don't have jobs.
Outsourcing has caused an uproar in Congress and there is supposedly a new law that is being made to "control" the number of companies that are using foreign workers.
Outsourcing is a very common thing throughout many companies {you know how practically everything says "Made in China?}.
There has been 2, 753,621 jobs lost from outsourcing.
"America’s dependence on foreign oil is a problem that can result in less jobs. Not exactly the same situation we’ve been talking about- no one is taking the jobs per say, but jobs that could be done in the United States are done in other parts of the world. This is a problem that has been present in the US for a while, but since the big fracking bang, foreign oil doesn't seem as big of a problem. Still, a way this problem could be fixed is to create more jobs in the oil industry in America by showing the big American oil companies that there is a lot of oil they can dig from, and encourage people to buy the American oil instead of oil from Iraq or Iran." -Sarah Crable, Team 7-5
CONTACT
Mr. Ahiakpor,
Hello! My name is Grace and I am a student at Nagel Middle School. My class is working on a project in Social Studies about the fall of the Roman Empire. My topic is Slave Outsourcing. I heard that you specialized in economic development/foreign aid and the economy in general. I have been researching and have some questions. I was wondering if you could answer some for me?
1. How does outsourcing affect the US economy today?
2. Is there currently a policy for outsourcing? How heavily is it put into use?
3. Are we {the US} heavily dependent on foreign workers and overseas jobs?
Thank you very much. I hope you have a great day.
Sincerely, Grace
Reply
Dear Grace,
I teach topics in international economic development, but I have not done any specific research on outsourcing. You will have to rely on your general understanding of the phenomenon known as "outsourcing" in order to answer the specific questions you have.
Outsourcing is simply the phenomenon by which a firm relies on some external producers to make some components of its products or to preform some services related to its business activity. The principal motivation for such a strategy would be to reduce the unit cost of producing a firm's product and thereby increase its profits or sustain the firm's survival in a competitive marketplace. Thus, a U.S. firm might send to Honduras (or China) its cut pieces of cloth to be stitched together by workers there to make shirts or pants that it then sells in the U.S. It must be that the cost of hiring workers in the U.S. to do the stitching significantly exceeds that of hiring workers in Honduras (or China).
The effect of such a move by a firm would be (a) fewer jobs for stitchers in the U.S., (b) more jobs for those who handle imported shirts and pants from Honduras (or China), (c) retained jobs for workers in other aspects of the firm, and (d) cheaper prices of shirts and pants for U.S. consumers.
In the case of mainly services, a firm may hire foreign workers to take calls and respond to American inquiries, e.g. AT&T or Comcast having people in India or the Philippines answer calls generated from the U.S. at times that most of its offices would be closed here.
I don't know of an specific government policies on outsourcing. You may look that up on Google.
I don't think the U.S. is "heavily" dependent on foreign workers and overseas jobs. The U.S. economy is the largest in the world in terms of the value of goods and services produced. I don't know the sense in which one would say that it is heavily reliant on foreign workers to produce any particular good or service. In terms of the share of goods and services the U.S. imports for use here, the ratio is just about 16%, while the share of its output sold to foreigners is just about 112%.
BTW, I couldn't tell how your questions relate to "Slave Outsourcing." A slave is a human owned as property by another person. What does it mean to outsource slaves?
Good luck on your project,
James Ahiakpor
Solutions
1. To stop the large amount of slave labour taking over the unemployed, Rome could create a law stating that anyone who owns slaves must give half their jobs to citizens that have no job and pay them. This would decrease the amount of slave jobs and could create more ways of doing things. We can't give all the jobs to citizens though; this would raise prices of wheat and corn heavily and pretty much anything that is made by the workers. Prices would raise because of the money needed to pay all of the citizen workers. If only half of people doing things for the more wealthy were slaves, it would help with unemployment but it wouldn't drastically hurt the price of things and wouldn't cause inflation.
2. A better education means a variety of things someone is able to do. If Rome gave out education to everyone and anyone then anyone would know how to do at least one job; that would create and give more jobs because citizens could do the job better than the slaves could. This would give jobs to the people who could teach Rome {like teachers and professors . This can also tie in with today's problem of unemployment: we have open jobs, it's just we don't have the knowledge to fill the spot in. Not everyone knows how to do things if they don't go to college and learn how to. I mean, think about it this way; the answer to cancer is in a mind who can't afford to go to college. This answer and knowledge could save millions of lives, but that person can't earn a degree and can't be a doctor. If free education was given throughout Rome to anyone who was not a slave they could decrease the amount of unemployment and get the wheels turning again.
These solutions can connect with today's minority laws. It doesn't matter what race you are, which city you come from or how rich/poor you are; you still receive a job. This has worked in many areas, such as the US, Canada and India.It keeps people from hiring others because of their background, looks, etc.
They can also connect with the US' public school system. Anyone is legible to join public school and learn everything needed by the national standards. There are still private schools for the more wealthy and higher-mark citizens {and anyone who is willing to pay for extra knowledge} but public schools teach everything needed to continue on to college and eventually receive a job.
Steps:
1. Rome is to build a new law that states all people owning slaves must employ half of jobs to the unemployed.
2. Create an education system that allows anyone to gain knowledge.
These steps should help change the high unemployment rate, and stop the Roman Empire form collapsing.
Citations
1. A., Ian. "Slavery In Ancient Rome." Slavery In Ancient Rome. Mare Nostrum, 21 Mar. 2000. Web. 22 Jan. 2013.
2. Grant, Ryan. "The Growth and Decline of the Roman Economy." The Distributist Review RSS. American Chesterton Society, 7 Mar. 2011. Web. 22 Jan. 2013.
3. Trueman, Chris BA. "Roman Slaves." Roman Slaves. LearnHistoryUK, Jan. 2000. Web. 25 Jan. 2013.
Project Links
Presentation
https://docs.google.com/a/foresthills.edu/presentation/d/1cvii6ZFZO6psrYGG0lSnbaKp6WiBL4a4kX9e56XfhJs/edit#slide=id.ga066a965_00